Arrivederci

I fear we've reached the end of the draught Ca'del Brado goodies at The Black Sheep. My final one was Cerbero Purple, a barrel-aged old ale. It's not the kind of clean, pale and spritzy thing that I usually come to the brewery for but they've earned more than enough credit for me to take a chance.

The barrels were wine ones and in with the beer went a 4% dilution of wine must, resulting in a lovely kiss of red grape in the aroma, alongside sparks of spice and a farmhouse funk. The initial flavour is very much about the fruit: juicy grape, sweet raisin and a slice of red apple. After a moment it's possible to detect the warm chocolate of an old ale at 9.8% ABV, although that doesn't get much of a look in before the resinous, gummy Brett manifests, finishing on sparks of geuze-like gunpowder.

I feel they could have made more of the base beer in this. At the same time, I can't complain that they substituted it for bags of pure Ca'del Brado magic. This was just as much of a delight as their previous works. I hope to see them again before too long.